Travis’s attorney responded to the letter within the timeframe offered by the prosecution. In our minds we were still erroneously wishing, hoping, and praying the truth would be discovered or the case would be plead down to a misdemeanor.
In fact, even Travis’s defense attorney said this should only be a misdemeanor. But this was just one of many things the defense attorney would assert which would be wrong for this case specifically, leading to us having hope only to be crushed later.
The defense attorney asked for discovery. Discovery is evidence in the case against a defendant. Exculpatory evidence is evidence in a case which supports the defendant. The prosecutor’s reply was that he would have to see what he could send over. It seems there may have been an attorney he was answering to—someone else calling the shots–and he was just the middle man. Or he could have been using it as a tactic. This was a fairly regular response from the prosecutor throughout this process of ‘negotiations’. Regardless, he sent over an email with the ‘threats’ posted as comments through IG and a photo the prosecution claims to have been on both Travis’s phone and the d_h_mazer account. No forensic evidence was sent in discovery; merely claims about the case.
I am not going to list the comments here. I do not have anything to hide, they are public record, and if you’d like to read them you can easily find them online. I simply don’t want anything twisted into me waging these comments as threats. It probably sounds outlandish since I’m talking about his case, but this is another lasting effect from all the trauma we’ve been through.
While the target letter indicated ‘threats’ were made toward President Joe Biden, Mark Zuckerberg, and Jena Griswold, the discovery additionally included ‘threats’ toward Vice President Kamala Harris, Anthony Fauci, and Nancy Pelosi. If you are like me, you will read the list of people and know everyone except for Jena Griswold. Ms. Griswold is the Colorado Secretary of State and has overseen six statewide elections. There were two ‘threats’ made toward Ms. Griswold, which may have been the least offensive of everything in question, but these were the two threats they were using to prosecute Travis.
Why was that?
In July 2021 the Department of Justice launched a Task Force to address the rise in violence to election workers, administrators, officials, and others associated with the electoral process at federal, state, and local levels. Congress had also modified statutes in early 2022 to enable the protection against violence toward election officials.
Not only was the prosecution very selective of the ‘threats’ they were prosecuting and the narrative being shared with the public, but whether or not the threats were direct or even First Amendment violations could be disputed. According to Catherine J. Ross, a professor and First Amendment law expert from George Washington University, a direct threat includes ownership of the action (“I am going to kill you” vs “Someone ought to kill you”). You can read about this in more detail in this New York Times article quoting Ms. Ross. None of the comments in this case were direct by Ms. Ross’s definition or were made using the type of language showing ownership.
Additionally, it is said a First Amendment violation occurs when someone is inciting others to engage in violence, to commit a crime, or infringe upon someone else’s right. The ‘threats’ posted to IG did none of those things, yet here Travis was facing a felony anyway.
Travis’s defense attorney did not want to address this. He also did not question why the two charges being used in this case were those made to Ms. Griswold. Apparently, he was unaware of the Task Force or the legalities behind enabling the task force to bring about harsher punishments to those who wage violence toward election officials. There is one place you do not want to find yourself within the criminal just system: first in line. Travis’s case was the first prosecuted by this task force which always affords the courts opportunity to set precedence while placing the defense at a disadvantage as there is no precedence to work from.
But the photo. You may remember from a previous post I mentioned the importance of the photo supposedly taken from his phone and that we would focus more on it. Travis had given permission for everything to be taken off his phone but had not given permission to have his photos, and clearly the FBI had done so. Travis was never served a warrant. How did they legally obtain this evidence? Anyone can go online, download a photo, and attach it to an email stating it came from someone’s phone. I’m not saying it happened, I’m not saying it didn’t happen, I’m simply saying it’s something anyone can do. Not only did the prosecution not provide a warrant to obtain the evidence, they never provided forensic analysis of his phone which would actually demonstrate the photo was taken from his phone. Remember, this was a photo Travis had not seen until the FBI showed it to him during their investigation.
And after all the lies we had been told throughout the investigation process, I personally needed to see more evidence from the prosecution and thought the defense attorney would have the same desire. Especially with what the other screen shot photos on Travis’s phone were showing. Exculpatory evidence (evidence supporting the defendant) which should bode to his advantage. We’ll get to that evidence soon, but not today.
How many questions did the defense attorney ask about these details? ZERO.
There’s a reason for this I’ll explain in the next post, and it’s startling and appalling…
Lesson learned: You might find an attorney to get you started on a case when time is of the essence but keep looking to find the attorney who is a good fit for your case, who is willing to do the leg work to find out what they don’t know, and who is going to give you strong representation in court.
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Peace & Love,
Janessa